of the deep-rooted depravity of the human heart, than this, that sinners would sooner annihilate, both God, and his throne, than abandon the gratification of their corrupt, and depraved affections: But seeing they cannot become atheists, it is their life's labour, to persuade themselves into such views of God's character, as shall not, in their own apprehension, expose them to evil, on account of sin. Being altogether selfish, they desire to accommodate the character, and the government, and the laws of God, to their own views and feelings. For this purpose, they darken their own understandings, and subject their consciences, to the control of their unholy, and ungovernable appetites. And alas, my friends, what shall they do in the end, when God shall say to each individual self-deceived and self-ruined sinner, "These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes? Now consider this ye that" voluntarily "forget God, lest" he "tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver."

REMARKS.

1. We may infer, from what has been said, that all sin consists in voluntary exercise. Sinners act in all things from choice. They pursue just that course, under the circumstances of their being, which they desire to pursue.They are not to blame, however, for having such natural. endowments, and capacities as they have; nor for that constitution of things, established under the orderings of providence, that unites them with that department of the great

system of divine operation, in which they are called to act, They are, in all respects, both as it regards their powers as moral agents, and the theatre on which they are destined to exercise them, precisely what God designed they should be ; and for being such as they are, and under such circumstances as they are, they will never be condemned. Whatever guilt attaches to them, then, must lie, either in their voluntary, or necessary actings. In the latter it cannot, most obviously, lie. If from the constitution of their being, they were necessarily, and not voluntarily sinful, they could be no more to blame for sin, than for their constitutional endowments; as sin, under these circumstances, would be as much a part of their physical constitution, as understanding, or consciousness, or any faculty of the soul. To be sinners, therefore, men must necessarily be voluntary; and thence, the whole of their guilt, before God, consists in the character of their voluntary exercises. There is no state, or condition of being, conceivable, antecedent to voluntary exercise, of which we can affirm either praise, or blame, with any more propriety than we can affirm either the one, or the other, of natural beauty, or deformity. If we cannot go back of voluntary exercise, and find something anteriour to it, to which we may attach a moral character, in what else, besides voluntary exercise, is it possible for holiness or sin to consist ?—

2. If sinners voluntarily darken their own understandings, then they are without excuse for their guilt. Having the means of knowing their duty, and possessing the requisite capacities for performing it, their neglect of it, cannot be

otherwise than voluntary.

They know their Master's will, but feel no inclination to do it. They feel the force of obligation, and often tremble under the consciousness that they deserve the manifested displeasure of their Maker. In the day when the Judge of quick and dead shall reveal himself, their consciences will be a thousand fold more sensitive than they now are, and they will be constrained to acknowledge, before the universe of God, that they are without excuse. When the mighty Arbiter of their eternal destinies shall say to them, "When I called, ye refused; when I stretched out my hand none of you regarded," their lips will be sealed in silence, and they will sink into despair, under the deep, and agonizing conviction, that their ruin is just.

Finally-Sinners are warned from our subject, not to trust in their own hearts. You are lost, my dear friends, for eternity, if you give yourselves up, altogether, to the deceitful workings of your own corrupt, hearts. Labour no longer to convert into darkness, the light which heaven, in mercy, has shed upon your path. You are naturally your own worst enemies. Fly yourselves. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ with all the powers you have. "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.".

SERMON V.

“And their foolish heart was darkened."

ROMANS i, 21.

It is very evident from the context, that the apostle intended to assert, that men were ignorant of God in the past ages of the world, voluntarily, or because they did not like to retain the knowledge of God in their minds. cause," he observes, "that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them."

"Be

Doubtless much was handed down, traditionarily, about the true God, from Adam to Noah. To Noah and his immediate descendants, God gave correct ideas of his being, perfections and government. By this means was conveyed the knowledge of those elementary principles of truth, which, by a proper improvement and cultivation both of the heart and the understanding, would have brought the true God, fairly and distinctly before the minds of his creatures.-Under these facilities for improvement, they were capable, in looking at the things that were made, to discover the perfections and attributes of him who made them, even his

L

eternal power and Godhead. Hence they are declared without excuse for their wickedness; and God is justified in revealing his wrath from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men-" Because, that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." They voluntarily forsook the very God they knew. What they knew of him was offensive to them, They were unthankful for the communications he had made to them. They took delight in holding, even those truths about God with which they were acquainted, in unrighteousness, and became vain in their imaginations. They formed such notions of God, and of his perfections, and providence, as were gratifying to their own depraved affections; and so by indulgence, their hearts grew more and more corrupt, and they became less and less sensitive to moral obligation, until, through the power and force of their passions, or the influence of a bad, or foolish heart, the light of their understanding was exceedingly obscured, and all their natural powers were brought into the service of their lusts.

Your attention is now invited to the following proposition,

as founded upon the text and its connexions.

THE HEARTS OF IMPENITENT MEN CONTROL THEIR UN

DERSTANDINGS.

Before I proceed to confirm this proposition, I would offer a remark or two to define and settle my meaning.

1. I do not mean that the heart controls the understanding, where the intellect, only, is concerned, even in